1. lack of front court and PG depth were exposed - team played 4-on-5 with Gray on the floor and Lucas is a 3rd stringer

2. Landry Fields' defense, rebounding and offensive movement was sorely missed - he would have been so much more effective than Anderson (how/why did Anderson play 33 minutes, 3rd only to DeRozan & Gay???)

3. 'live or die by the jumpshot' is recipe for disaster, especially from the 2nd unit - Anderson/Lucas/Ross were a combined 3-17 (1-8 3pt) & entire team shot 37.3% / 22.2%

4. rookies are rookies - Valanciunas & Ross could be special, but that game was a reminder that the NBA learning curve is a steep and inconsistent process

Conclusions:

1. This team needs a significantly upgraded 2nd big; Valanciunas (rookie), Gray (backup/matchup C) and Acy (rookie/3rd string) will not cut it next to Johnson, especially given his tendancy to foul. For the short-term, even Bargnani would have been a huge improvement over Gray - at least the Heat would have respected/defended him!

2. This team needs a veteran, pass-first backup PG. Lucas is an insanely streaky shooter, who should not be counted on to contribute 12-16 MPG.

3. I fear BC already missed the 'trade at peak value' window for Anderson, but he needs to be traded. A wing rotation of Gay, DeRozan, Fields and Ross has the potential to be very good and very balanced.

I kinda feel bad for Alan Anderson ... dude worked his BUTT off to the point where he would have gotten a significant raise in the off-season if he kept playing the way he was, pre-Rudy Gay.. but now that Gay is here, Anderson is completely sh*tting the bed, to the point where any value he may have built-up is slowly rotting away.

"That was Nasty right? Cocked that Joint back and banged on 'em." -James Johnson

Tru, then he starts his chuck fest and it begins raining bricks from all over the court

AA needs to remember who he's on the floor with sometimes...when the 2nd unit is in the game AA has to score & make plays... when Kyle, Demar or Gay is on the floor with him he needs to take a back seat & do the little things like rebound & play D nothing more... I think AA is a decent player who trys to do WAY too much & some of that prob has to do with the fact he feels he needs seize the opportunity to make a name for himself, career D-League type players tend to do that to get noticed around the league..

AA is putting a lot of pressure on himself to perform and maintain his stature on the team. He's been playing Bball for a long time and he doesn't have long to secure a contract that could establish some financial stability in his life, and for his family.

If AA can get back to his defensive efficiency and increase his offensive percentage, he's a valuable player. He's in a tough spot, being taken out of the spotlight and all.

AA needs to remember who he's on the floor with sometimes...when the 2nd unit is in the game AA has to score & make plays... when Kyle, Demar or Gay is on the floor with him he needs to take a back seat & do the little things like rebound & play D nothing more... I think AA is a decent player who trys to do WAY too much & some of that prob has to do with the fact he feels he needs seize the opportunity to make a name for himself, career D-League type players tend to do that to get noticed around the league..

I don't think it's because of the D-League background. Lot's of D-League players tend not to do more than they are asked of, because they know, being on a minor contract, that they have a pretty short leash. In general they are pulled quicker and put on the end of the bench easily; certainly compared with big(ger) contract players. I think it has a lot to do with the first games when he came back from injury. He needed to take on a pretty big role at that moment and it helped us win some games.

I also think that, right now, we don't have a good system in place to deal with defensive pressure on our main guys which places someone like Anderson in the position where he doesn't know what to do except play 'hero-ball'. We need some good sets in those situations. Anderson and Lucas will still be asked to, at least, hit some threes to create room for others. And this will go well one game and go bad another; they can shoot it, but aren't very consistent and we'll have to live with that as long as they need to play those roles.

I don't think it's because of the D-League background. Lot's of D-League players tend not to do more than they are asked of, because they know, being on a minor contract, that they have a pretty short leash. In general they are pulled quicker and put on the end of the bench easily; certainly compared with big(ger) contract players. I think it has a lot to do with the first games when he came back from injury. He needed to take on a pretty big role at that moment and it helped us win some games.

I also think that, right now, we don't have a good system in place to deal with defensive pressure on our main guys which places someone like Anderson in the position where he doesn't know what to do except play 'hero-ball'. We need some good sets in those situations. Anderson and Lucas will still be asked to, at least, hit some threes to create room for others. And this will go well one game and go bad another; they can shoot it, but aren't very consistent and we'll have to live with that as long as they need to play those roles.

maybe saying career D-Leaguer wasnt the right choice of words but my point is hes taken a long road to get to the NBA & if you havent seen Raptors Open Court, AA said as much & that he really wants to sieze this opportunity to maybe get a long term deal & stick in the NBA, hes trying too hard & its effecting more then just his numbers. he needs to just play & take whats given to him rather then force his offence

ya, that's the reason that i didnt bring up the awful passing... the reality is, it would have taken an upper echelon pure PG to break them there... which we don't have..

i'm not stuck on this "we need bargs' shooting" idea... up until yesterday, i was firmly grounded in "get him the hell out of here"...

but we DO need shooters... i'll accept "trade bargs, and put Ross in as the starting 2" as an alternative... at least he's a marginally better shooter

The Raptors need better ball movement and sets.

Also with the ball movement and sets, the ball needs to get in to the hands of people who can actually score in a position to score. Great ball movement to Gay for a missed layup is not awesome and what is the point - why not JV especially against a 'slim' front court of the HEAT? Receiving the ball and holding it just to decide you need to give it to someone else is a waste of a touch. Getting the ball in a position where you have to create off the dribble (*cough*DD*cough*) only to end up doing a little pump and head fake that the defense has well scouted and then giving to a teammate with 4 seconds on the shot clock is pointless. AA creating is just wrong.

I kinda feel bad for Alan Anderson ... dude worked his BUTT off to the point where he would have gotten a significant raise in the off-season if he kept playing the way he was, pre-Rudy Gay.. but now that Gay is here, Anderson is completely sh*tting the bed, to the point where any value he may have built-up is slowly rotting away.

I think every GM in the league is weary of a journey man putting up average numbers on a shit team. In my opinion, his goal was to get something guaranteed for more than 1 year and it likely would be/would have been/will be minimum.

Also with the ball movement and sets, the ball needs to get in to the hands of people who can actually score in a position to score. Great ball movement to Gay for a missed layup is not awesome and what is the point - why not JV especially against a 'slim' front court of the HEAT? Receiving the ball and holding it just to decide you need to give it to someone else is a waste of a touch. Getting the ball in a position where you have to create off the dribble (*cough*DD*cough*) only to end up doing a little pump and head fake that the defense has well scouted and then giving to a teammate with 4 seconds on the shot clock is pointless. AA creating is just wrong.

I haven't seen you in this part of the forums in a while. Welcome back!

i get busy at work... and when it gets too busy in the main forum, threads tend to fill up faster than i can keep track while actually having things to do... so i stick to the much slower moving alternate forums during them times...